Author Topic: 22. shorts (Read 3140 times)

catdaddy · « **on:** November 06, 2008, 09:59:01 AM »

are 22. shorts adequete for gray squirrels, i shot two with cci stingers and it made to much of a mess

Gohon · « **Reply #1 on:** November 06, 2008, 11:38:08 AM »

Stingers are to much for most anything you intend to eat as they are hyper velocity. Shorts work great for squirrels if they are accurate in your gun. Only problem is they won't work in semi automatics and tend to build up lead because of the longer jump to the throat. I shoot nothing but subsonic when after bushy tails. The Remington subsonic sold at most retail stores like WalMart shoot well in my guns. Very accurate and a lot quieter than than normal 22 rounds which tends not to spook the squirrels as much.

Doe · « **Reply #2 on:** November 06, 2008, 04:56:48 PM »

if your shoothing a bolt gun it'll work fine and may....be more accurate too mine 981T love'em. I too use subsonic for hunting (rem) cause they are more accurate and they hit where i put the crosshairs.

IOWA DON · « **Reply #3 on:** November 07, 2008, 10:35:18 AM »

I use .22 shorts a lot. The rifle is a Ruger stainless Model 22/77 with a Volquartsen slow twist barrel, and magazines modified to properly feed shorts. I put on a Brown Precision fiberglass stock and a Leupold 3-9X Compact scope with adjustable objective. For backyard pest squirrels and most of the time when hunting I use Eley Pistol Match shorts. They produce 900 fps out of the rifle's 18-inch barrel and about the same noise level as CB caps. With this ammo it kills rabbits and fox squirrels just fine. It has probably accounted for nearly 200 rabbits and nearly 100 squirrels. With the Eley cartridges I zero it for 40 yards. It shoots about 1/2-inch groups at 30 yards with the Eley cartridges but begins to lose accuracy at 50 yards because of vertical scatter. With the same scope setting CCI high speed hollow points are dead on at about 65 yards, so I use them for longer shots. They usually group 9 of 10 shots in less than 1.0 inch at 50 yards, as good as my old Weatherby Mark XX with high speed long rifles. With the CCI hollow points I've got a few squirrels at over 50 yards. At very close distances the CCI hollow points open up a large hole on rabbits. Also, I've shot 4 half-grown raccoons, 3 large woodchucks, and a fox in my backyard with this rifle using the Eley Pistol Match cartridges. These were all taken with head shots and again it killed them just fine.

Mack in N.C. · « **Reply #4 on:** November 09, 2008, 11:59:31 AM »

iowa don, thats a pretty squirrel,...is that a black grey squirrel??,.....here in nc if you see a black squirrel..99.99 percent it is a fox squirrel........our greys dont get black like they do up north.......
also to the poster 22 shorts are not legal in n.c.......you are probaly not in nc but here you cannot use than except on a trapline...........stingers are way too much for edible game..........i use cci solid and never have a problem...mack

IOWA DON · « **Reply #5 on:** November 09, 2008, 12:50:58 PM »

MACK - This is in Iowa and it is a black fox squirrel. Many if not most fox squirrels in the town of Council Bluffs are black rather than the common rusty orange color. These black squirrels are more or less the town mascot and protected within the city limits. However, I was told that over the years people have trapped the black squirrels and taken them to other towns. I think they are rapidly spreading accrost Iowa. I have scene them about 100 miles east-southest of Council Bluffs. I think fox squirrels have different color phases in different areas. I saw some of what I thought were fox squirrels in Montreal, Canada and they were a sort of grey color, and possibly larger than the Iowa fox squirrels. There are grey squirrels in south west Iowa in the bluffs along the Missouri river south of the town of Glenwood. I think that may be about the northern limit of that species, at least for that far west. I have only shot one grey squirrel and it was much smaller than the fox squirrels. Also, it seems like the grey squirrels almost never quit moving so its difficult to get one with a rifle. What is the reason for .22 shorts being illegal in NC??? I think they would be safer than .22 long rifles for two reasons. First, if a .22 short bullet would rickochet, it would not travel as far or hit with as much impact as a .22 long rifle bullet. Second, if an aerial target were missed, a .22 short bullet would come down with much less impact than a heavier .22 long rifle bullet. - DON

Dee · « **Reply #6 on:** November 09, 2008, 02:54:30 PM »

I have a box of shorts here on my desk, but shoot squirrels out of my pecan trees with CB caps. They are much quieter here on the edge of town. My Jack Russel trees them, and then eats the evidence if I don't want them.

Mack in N.C. · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2008, 07:48:29 AM »

IOWA DON, DONT KNOW THE REASON BUT ONLY LONG RIFLES ARE LEGAL FOR SMALL GAME........AGAAIN NICE SQUIRELL, OUR FOX SQUIRREL HERE ARE ROUGHLY 25 PERCENT BLACK AND THE REST CAN BE ANYTRHING FROM GRAY TO RED TO BLACK UNDERNEATH AND A SALT AND PEPPER BACK.....THESE WE CALL SADDLE BACKS...........ONE THING THOUGH , EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE ABOUT 16 DIFFERENT COLOR VARIATIONS HERE ALL HAVE BLACK HEADS WITH WHITE EARS AND WHITE ON THEIIR NOSE SO A GREY ONE WILL HAVE A BLACK HEAD WITH THE WHITE ON THE EARS AND NOSE.....I HAVE 9 MOUNTED BUT STILL DDONT HAVE ALL THE COLOR VARITIONS...MACK

kevinsmith5 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 02, 2009, 03:05:32 PM »

I just read through the entire NC game laws book for the 2008-2009 season and can't find anything about .22 shorts being illegal for game. (I did find out you can hunt deer with a .22 in NC, which I didn't know). I can't even think of why the shorts would be illegal to hunt with, they shoot the same weight bullet at a higher velocity than subsonics. THat being said I only use subsonics or standard velocity .22 long rifles.

Mack in N.C. · « **Reply #9 on:** January 02, 2009, 05:43:09 PM »

kevin you are right.......they changed it and i dint even realize it.......i went back to 2005-2006 reg book and it is ok for that year.....i dont have an older regs book.......it must if been changed sometine between 2000 and 2005 because i know that in the 80's and 90"s the book alwasy said "only 22 long rifles legal for small game..............)....also changed is the barrel restriction on shooting big game with a handgun....min barrel lenght used to be 6 inches....now it is not mentioned......also on small game with pistol, min barrel lenght used to be 6 inches also , but now it is 5.5 inches........... didnt matter on my contender but when i bought my 357 mag (s&w 27-2) and my ruger single six thats why i made sure they both had 6 inch barrels........mack

Mack in N.C. · « **Reply #10 on:** January 02, 2009, 06:01:58 PM »

also, yes 22 can be used on deer , my gun smith shoots them with a 22 mag....hasnt lost one yet..............the regs have always been hard to understand and yes i did graduate from college.......
the part that gets me is the book say no rifle larger than 22 rim fire can be used on gamelands after deer season.......well to me that reads any 22 rimfire is legal.......to me that aslo means a 22 mag is legal as it is a rimfire just like a 22 long rifle.......my gamewarden told me no.......his boss told me no....i went to his boss and he said that his 2 guys under him were wrong and i could hunt with it and he would instruct them that i was legal.........it still is an uneasy feeling going ito the woods(like i am tommorow) with the 22 mag as a lot of officers seem to not tknow the regs.......mack

FourBee · « **Reply #11 on:** January 03, 2009, 04:57:39 AM »

Quote from: catdaddy on November 06, 2008, 09:59:01 AM

are 22. shorts adequete for gray squirrels, i shot two with cci stingers and it made to much of a mess

quote by Gohon: Shorts work great for squirrels if they are accurate in your gun.

Some .22's don't like anything but the long rifle ammo. Experiment.....

catfishfiend · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2009, 08:09:18 AM »

i use .22 shorts in my marlin 881 for cottontails, and my daughter uses them in her cricket too. i have seen some guns that would chamber them fine, but accuracy was lacking. i used the golden bullet solid shorts in east texas for squirrels with great results.

jenkst · « **Reply #13 on:** January 16, 2009, 08:05:36 AM »

Catfish and others; The reds are so big and tough here in S.E. Missouri that I shoot'em twice with my 870 Rem. with extra full choke and one ounce of six's so they won't hurt my dog. Killed two reds and one gray last time out. Just waiting for this cold weather to break and I''ll be back out again. Jenks,, Just aim a little in front of his nose. The dog, Buddy, is a real squirrel hunter!

squirrellluck · « **Reply #14 on:** January 16, 2009, 05:30:43 PM »

When I was younger we used shorts to kill our hogs for butchering. Shots were around 20 yards head on right between the eyes. DOA.

FourBee · « **Reply #15 on:** January 16, 2009, 05:58:54 PM »

Quote

squirrellluck
Insert Quote
When I was younger we used shorts to kill our hogs for butchering. Shots were around 20 yards head on right between the eyes. DOA

.

Yep, I can remember those episodes. Very early on a cold crisp morning they'd get a large cast iron pot boiling with water over an open fire. Only difference was, the whole herd was in the same pen together. So they'd lure the butcher hog up close to the gait and keep his attention while the other hogs lost interest and wandered away. This was done because the large old Sows would eat a man up trying to get to a downed hog. When the setting was just right, they'd shoot'im and drag him out as quickly as possible.

And after bleeding him out , and testing the sharpness of their butcher knives, they scald him with that boiling water and all the young boys then would be given a knife to scrape the hair off the carcass.

squirrellluck · « **Reply #16 on:** January 17, 2009, 03:28:21 PM »

Yep, oh what fun!?

lil_hunter12 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 17, 2009, 03:39:36 PM »

yes what fun just did that myself today. except we use .22 long rifles.lure the butcher hog to the gate. bang then start the skinning.

kevinsmith5 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 17, 2009, 04:40:39 PM »

Y'all are making me want bacon.

torpedoman · « **Reply #19 on:** January 17, 2009, 04:46:52 PM »

I would reccomend lr sub sonics they would be more accurate in your chamber and do less damage than the shorts.

kevinsmith5 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 17, 2009, 05:15:22 PM »

Most of my squirells fall before 22 Moderators (sub-sonics) that barely sound like air rifle shots.

Hodr · « **Reply #21 on:** April 10, 2009, 08:11:04 PM »

My son has inherited a winchester 22 short galley rifle with an octagon barrel. I remember a reunion back on the family farm in Missouri when I was not to big. I was allowed to use a benjamin 22 air rifle to shoot through the nests. It was late fall and all squirrels were full grown. The squirrel in the nest would come out and chatter when the pellet went through. Dad and his brothers took turns with the gallery rifle and never missed a headshot up into the trees. Grandma, Mom and my aunts made a huge pile of squirrels baked in gravy. Better than any prime rib I have ever eaten.

blindhari

recipe available

S.S. · « **Reply #22 on:** May 15, 2009, 04:23:04 PM »

Quite adequate. even the lowly .22 short has more energy than
most air rifles made today and many modern airguns are deadly
on small game. The attached pic shows a gray that I got with a .22
short from a box of bullets made during WW2. Never knew what hit him.